Ocean City Fishing

There is something special about being out on the beach at night, especially in the middle of the summer. The heat of the day fades into the coolness of the night and the beauty of the starlit sky coupled with the sound of the crashing waves washes away the worries of the previous day. I do a lot of fishing from my boat, but every now and then it is refreshing to get out on the beach at night. It’s a place where there are no worries about charters, no noisy outboard motors, no competitive anglers—it’s just me, the surf, the sand, and if I’m lucky a couple fish, too.

We are blessed here in Delmarva with a lot of beaches that are open to surf fishing. From Cape Henlopen in the North to Chincoteague in the South, and the many miles in between, there are countless opportunities for anglers to enjoy fishing from the sand. If you are a newbie to surf fishing, summer is a great time to get out there and try your hand at it. This time of the year there is typically a lot of different types of fish in the surf, and some of them are very good eating. Kingfish (sea mullet) for example are one of my favorites, and are a favorite of many others as well. They will readily take small baits like squid, bloodworms, and even Fishbites. Croakers, spot, small bluefish, and even flounder are common catches in the surf this time of the year as well. Surf fishing isn’t for everybody, but if you have never tried it I suggest you get out there and see what it’s all about. Who knows, you might discover a new passion.
Here in Ocean City, our fishing was unfortunately interrupted this past week by Hurricane Bill. Boats were unable to get out, and the storm surge and huge waves rocked our local beaches. Fishing was pretty good before the storm however, and I did receive some reports. As of this writing, things are just now getting settled back to normal. The next couple days are forecast to be very nice, and it will be interesting to see how the storm has changed our fishing. But for now, let’s take a look back at some of the reports from this past week.

At Harbor Bait and Tackle, Bev reports; A few smaller sharks are being taken from the surf along with skates, rays, croakers, blues, and kingfish. A customer said he caught a 19 inch croaker off the beach. It seems that a few more legal flounder are showing up in the Thorofare and in the East Channel. Triggers and stripers are being taken from the Inlet. Flounder and stripers are coming from the Rt. 50 Bridge. Croakers are throughout the back bays.

JJ at the Oceanic Pier reports; The flounder bite has been really good this week, We’ve had lots of flatties over the 20 inch mark. The croakers are heavy too, but they come and go, will bite good for a couple of hours then disappear, the best bait for them is bloodworms. Angler are starting to=2 0fish for tog again with some good results even though most togs are undersized. At night time under the lights the blues are still thick, running through in big schools, Got-Cha Plugs are the ticket. We are still open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

John at AllTackle reports; The flounder size is picking up this week, the west channel by Hooper’s is really turning on. The east channel is also producing a lot of keepers. The croaker are still thick in the bays with the size of the fish getting better, some croakers are over 15 inches. The 9th street pier is the hot spot to fish for croaker from the shore line, bloodworms and fish bites are the best baits. The offshore wreck and reef fishing is still red hot, with anglers scoring big with big flounder. The white marlin bite is still the best we’ve seen in years and continues to be consistent. We also are starting to see lots and I mean lots of false albacore.

At Buck’s Place, Cindy reports; Real slow on the surf, some sharks, skates, croaker, blues, and flounder. The bays are producing larger flounder and lots of keeper croaker. We also had a report come in that there was weakfish in the 14” to 20” range being caught in the inlet. Offshore the flounder fishing is still good on the wrecks and reefs. The white marlin bite is still real good, plus there are reports that there are tons of false albacore being caught, plus some dolphin mixed in.

D enny at Oyster Bait and Tackle reports; Still catching lots of flounder in the east channel. Surf fishing slowed after the storm last week, but a report did come in of a decent kingfish bite on bloodworms. Offshore the flounder fish still continues to be good at the reefs and wrecks. And finally the white marlin, dolphin, and false albacore bite is still good.

Captain Steve of the “Happy Hooker” bay party boat reports; The fishing has been good for flounder as long as the water is clear. We’ve had some really good trips this week with lots of keepers, due to clean water. The croaker bite continues to be good also with the size of the fish the largest of the year. We will continue to run flounder trips till the season ends on September 13th, after that we will still run trips for other species. Check us out at the Talbot Street Dock for times and availabilities.

Captain Victor Bunting on the “Ocean Princess” reports; That he is still picking away at the croakers. Most of our trips over the past week have been pretty good however we still have the slow day every now and then. Croakers have been ranging in size from 9″ all the way up to 16″, however most are in the 9″ to 12″ range. Hopefully Hurricane Bill has not messed things up too much and we’ll get back out there tomorrow and have another good day on em.

Captain Todd, on the “Restless Lady” reports; We went out Saturday 8/22 to some inshore lumps, just a half day trip. Lots of spanish mackerel, bluefish and false albacore. Good size swells thanks to Bill. Inlet was a little dicey coming back in, nothing we haven’t seen before, just have to pay a little more attention to what’s going on.

I had some really good trips this week on my boat, one worth writing about was a flounder trip in the bay, with Dr. John Heywang from Teaneck, N.J. . Doc has fished with me for many years now, and he’s a very colorful person, always good for lots of laughs. With lots of unbelievable stories of his life’s adventures all over the world. One thing about Doc is my mate and I always get to fish some on the charter which is a treat for both of us. We headed out to the south jetty first to do a few striper drifts with great results. We made 4 drifts with 3 stripers, all were undersize but they all gave the Doc a good fight. After that we headed up the bay for some flounder fishing, all I can say is the bite was off the hook. I think it was the best flounder bite I’ve seen all summer. We ended up with seven keepers between us and must have thrown back over 25 shorts. Hopefully it will continue to be this way for the rest of the season which ends September 13th. I will still boo k flounder trips till then, plus I’m also booking south jetty striper trips, inshore, lite tackle shark trips. I’m also booking now for the fall striper season, plus all the striper tournaments during the fall. Give me a call on my cell at 410-430-5436.